Ender woke up in a bed.
The only reason he didn't immediately get up, concerned for his life, was because he was very familiar with the ceiling that he was currently looking at.
"Hah! I guess it's home sweet home."
Ender slowly got up, taking in the familiar surroundings.
"Oh wow, everything is so dusted. Though unsurprisingly, it still looks better than my old place…"
Ender was in his old bedroom, in the house where he previously lived with his family!
It was a small and square room with sturdy wooden beams supporting the rather low ceiling. The walls were made of smooth white stone. On top of Ender's bed was a small window covered with a simple cloth curtain that let in a bit of daylight.
The mattress he was sitting on was stuffed with straws, handmade by his mother, and it was on top of a simple yet elegant and well made, wooden bed frame.
A small wooden table with a few candles for light, sat on the bed's opposite wall. There was a simple wooden chair pushed under it.
The last furniture of the room was a handmade wooden chest at the foot of the bed, which held all of Ender's old belongings.
"It sure does feel nice being here again, but after hearing dad's memory thing, I'm not sure it's such a good idea to stay here. Dad wouldn't make such a dumb mistake though… It's probably safe then?"
Ender's family house was located inside the biggest city of their continent, Celestoria.
Celestoria… A sprawling metropolis with towering spires and majestic architecture that seemed to have touched pinnacle of human artistry. The buildings were predominantly made of shimmering white stone, adorned with intricate carvings and filigree that glistened in the sunlight. The city's layout was harmonious and organised, with wide, cobbled streets and meticulously maintained gardens that often housed unique plants.
Beyond the gleaming main streets and radiant plazas lied a network of shadowed alleys and hidden passages. These alleys were a home to an always thriving black market where illicit goods, forbidden spells, and dangerous magical artefacts changed hands. The criminal underworld of Celestoria was mostly a well kept secret.
Ender only knew about its existence, because he overheard his parents talking about it.
"Come to think of it, there's no way they didn't know I was eavesdropping on them that time… Or that other time, when I hid all the sweets mum brought home… "
"Curses. They probably knew everything I did!"
Ender's heightened embarrassment quickly died down though when Catherine invaded his thoughts.
"Catherine is dead… I can only hope she died before getting r*ped…"
Ender continued that train of thought, putting all the blame on himself until he got too tired and fell asleep again.
Luckily, this time he woke up only a few hours later.
"I shouldn't dwell on the past too much. Not only does it cause me great pain but it also makes me want to give up. I must try to live my life with what I have left," he thought out loud.
After a few minutes of calming himself down, Ender opened his eyes.
'Based on the light coming from the window, it must be evening. I should get up and find something to eat, lest I die from starvation!'
Ender slowly made his way out of his old bedroom.
Creak.
Room after room, Ender checked the whole house.
"Huh. Everything is as I remember. Minus the dust of course."
'I wonder if dad's hidden stash is still intact as well. I doubt dad checked it and considering the house's undamaged condition, no one else should have had the chance to. Though, I wonder what he put inside it. I never figured that one out.'
With that though in mind, Ender quickly made his way to his parents' bedroom. He pushed the bed aside and kneeled down.
"Wait… He surely knew that I was aware of this place, didn't he?"
Sighing, he proceeded to knock with his index finger on different parts of the floor until he heard a hollow echo, making him grin.
He pushed that section particular section on the floor down, activating a mechanism that moved the tile down.
Ender put his hand inside the newly formed small square hole in the floor and reached under the other tiles.
"I've seen father stashing something somewhere down here."
Ender moved his hand along the sides of the opening until he found another hole!
"Eureka?"
He pushed his hand deeper inside but there seemed to be no end to the hole. Most of his arm was now inside it…
"This feels weird. There's no way the other tiles are hollow as well. There shouldn't be this much space down here, yet that seems to be the case."
Ender couldn't make sense of the hidden stash.
He reached even deeper. Had anyone saw Ender at that moment they would have been stunned. Ender's whole arm was now under the tiles.
"Finally found something!"
Ender felt a leathery material making contact with his skin, so he grabbed it and pulled it out.
"Sigh. Another pouch. This one feels even lighter than mine.. I doubt there's anything in it…"
Ender slowly opened his father's pouch with no expectations.
Sure, it was made by a better material than his but unlike his, this one didn't have any enchantments. Or so Ender though before he fully opened it.
"I-It must have quite the "feather light" enchantment to weight so little."
Gold dragnariums! Tens of them where inside the small pouch scattered amongst normal dragnariums, yet it weighted less than his own cloth pouch. Ender's pouch only contained one gold dragnarium..
"Shit, shit! How big is space inside it?"
If Ender's pouch was three times bigger on the inside, then this one was at least three whole hundred times its normal size.
"This is incredible!" Ender whispered to himself, his excitement growing as he examined the magically enhanced pouch.
"There should be other enchantments on it that I can't see… It's not like these aren't enough though. Hopefully, I'll be able to discover them later."